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University of Maryland Ranks Among Top 100 Worldwide for Patents

University of Maryland Ranks Among Top 100 Worldwide for Patents

The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) and Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) have ranked the University of Maryland – together with other schools within the University System of Maryland – No. 27 in the world and No. 11 among U.S. public institutions for patents awarded in 2016. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted 72 patents to these five institutions within USM in 2016, 48 of which are held by the University of Maryland, College Park.

"This recognition by NAI and IPO highlights what we’ve known – Maryland is teeming with innovation,” says Julie Lenzer, associate vice president for innovation and economic development and co-director of UM Ventures. "The development of fearless ideas into patentable technologies provides an opportunity to transform university research into products and platforms that solve real, global problems."

The University of Maryland has grown its number of issued patents by 37 percent since NAI and IPO first issued the report in 2013. The university patented its first technology – a method of producing a Newcastle Disease virus vaccine – in 1954, and to date, the university is the holder of more than 680 U.S. patents.

A sample of 2016 patented UMD innovations that are already making an impact include:

U.S. Patent 9,255,686 for Porous SERS Analytical Devices and Method of Detecting a Target Analyte, exclusively licensed to Diagnostic anSERS.

U.S. Patent 9,471,082 for Optimizing and Controlling the Energy Consumption of a Building, jointly developed by and licensed to Earth Networks.